1. Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates to a composition useful in the removal of human body hair and methods for utilizing the same.
2. Description of the Prior Art:
Since time immemorial, people have sought to remove unwanted hair from the body for cosmetic, medical, social and other reasons. The most primitive and probably the earliest methods devised for removing such unwanted hair were mechanical in nature, e.g., grasping a single hair or a group of hairs by their ends and forcibly plucking them out of the skin by their roots, or effecting the same operation by use of tweezers or other mechanical grasping devices. Shaving and abrasion of the skin by use of a razor or a knife or any abrasive has also been practiced for millenia as a method for hair removal.
Many centuries ago it was discovered that certain naturally occurring chemical substances, such as certain plant extracts, had the ability to cause the removal of human body hair when applied to a particular skin surface. Many of these naturally occurring chemical depilatories, however were quite harsh, causing substantial irritation to human skin, particularly to sensitive skin areas such as the face, and were frequently malodorous as well.
In modern times, several new depilatory agents and methods have been developed. Electrolysis, whereby a fine wire is inserted into each individual hair follicle and a mild electric current is sent through the wire to destroy the hair-forming cell at the base of the follicle, is a widely-utilized technique for cosmetic hair removal. In addition, X-ray techniques have been used whereby a brief exposure of a skin area to a relatively mild dosage of radiation caused the hair in that area to fall out.
Probably the most widely used depilatory agents developed in modern times are commercially-sold creams and ointments which contain as their active ingredient disulfide bond breakers such as salts of mercaptan acids, particularly salts of thioglycolic acid. These salts attack the most recently formed portion of the hair shaft, that is, the part closest to the skin surface. They act by rupturing the disulfide bonds in the keratin protein found in the hair shaft, weakening the hair and causing it to be ruptured at the surface of the skin, an effect somewhat similar to closely shaving the skin area. The hair root, however, remains in the follicle and the disulfide bond breaking salts have a deleterious effect on the skin and give rise to unpleasant odors.
Another cosmetic hair removal technique currently practiced in the art, primarily by cosmeticians and other professionals, involves the application of flowable wax to a hairy area. The wax is allowed to cool and harden, whereupon it enmeshes the hair which it contacts. The hardened wax then is stripped from the skin, pulling out the enmeshed hair by its roots. New hairs generally will not appear at the skin surface for a period of weeks.
In the medical sphere, hair removal is frequently an important part of pre-surgical preparation. To the present day, the almost universally practiced method for removing the hair from the area where an operation is to be performed is to shave the area with a razor and a suitable lubricated or cream. Because even the closest shave leaves a small amount of stubble, and because hair growth reappears fairly quickly after shaving, the shaving procedure is normally performed almost immediately before the patient is brought into the operating room. Although more efficient and long-lasting hair removal methods are available, such as the use of chemical depilatories or flowable waxes described above, such techniques are disfavored for pre-surgical use because of their tendency to cause irritation of the skin area which can lead to possible infection and other unwanted complications.
It readily can be seen that each of the hair removal methods currently practiced in the art suffers serious drawbacks. Plucking manually or with tweezers is extremely time-consuming, painstaking work and is rather painful and irritating. Shaving is a more rapid hair-removal method, but it tends to cause nicks and cuts in the skin and, at best, removes hair only down to the skin surface. Moreover, frequent shaving often stimulates rapid hair growth.
Chemical depilatories such as the thioglycolate salts are somewhat toxic and also irritating, particularly to sensitive skin areas or to individuals with particularly sensitive skin. Moreover, these depilatories must be left on the skin for a minimum of ten and frequently fifteen minutes for effective hair removal, increasing the time for the overall procedure and the risk of skin irritation.
Hot wax methods are relatively complex and necessitate the use of heating equipment, equipment for applying the molten wax to the skin, and wax removal means. Moreover, the molten wax is frequently at a temperature of 75.degree. C. and even higher, causing at least a burning sensation to most subjects and in some cases even entailing a risk of actual burn damage to the skin.
More recently, attempts have been made to develop, hair-removal compositions and methods which will overcome the aforementioned drawbacks of the prior art; i.e. which are non-irritating, can be used without heating, and yet cleanly and thoroughly remove hair without allowing rapid return growth. For example, attempts have been made to formulate sticky semi-liquid compositions from unrefined sugar, said compositions to be used by applying them to the hairy area and then pressing paper or similar material against the area and pulling away the hair enmeshed by the sticky composition. Such compositions have not been commercially feasible, however, because unrefined sugar is expensive and not widely available for commercial use in this country. Moreover, there is some technical difficulty in making suitable homogeneous formulations of unrefined sugar on a commercial scale. In addition, compositions made with unrefined sugar are naturally dark brown in color and very unappealing for use in commercial cosmetic products. Nor do such compositions have stable shelf lives long enough to be commercially practical.
Electrolysis methods are expensive, somewhat painful and must be performed by a professional utilizing specialized expensive equipment. X-ray techniques are unsatisfactory because they entail a far greater risk of permanent damage than is normally justified for cosmetic hair removal.
Thus, to the present date, no commercially feasible hair-removal compositions have been developed which are safe, non-toxic, non-irritating, have a long lasting effect, require no heating or mechanical devices for their use, and are acceptable for medical and pre-surgical procedures.